Prehistoric Park: The Untold Stories
by nphillips0115
Summary: You know what the animals do when the camera isn't rolling, but what about the staff? What do they do off the record? Find out in this story.
1. Chapter 1: The First Night at the Park

Tristan and his friends were walking toward the staff housing. It was getting late and they'd exhausted themselves rescuing giant birds and chaolicotheres, so a good night's rest was in order.

As was a lot of talking.

"Alright, spill, now," remarked a rather aggressive sounding Alice.

"What?" asked a confused Tristan.

"You never told us about this place. You didn't even tell your siblings about it. Why?"

Tristan seemed to calm down at that remark.

"Well, until last week, I didn't know that it existed."

"...Seriously?"

"Yeah. I only found out about it because my dad sent me here. He thought I'd enjoy it. I think he was correct."

"Ok, I believe you there. So, what can you tell us about the park."

"Well, so far, they've done eight rescue missions, this one included. Some of the animals are stowaways from the specials Nigel's done for Impossible Pictures. The main missions were to rescue _Tyrannosaurus, Mammuthus primigenius, Microraptor, Smilodon populator,_ a bunch of bugs from the Carboniferous, _Deinosuchus, and Bistahieversor and Pentaceratops. I joined with tem for the last one."_

"All the big names, then."

"Yep."

"Why'd dad send you here first?" asked Violet.

"I'm guessing because I'm the oldest."

"True.."

"When did they make the time portal?"

"About 16 years ago. They needed a lot of testing, though, which is why they didn't get the park set up earlier."

"Anyone else you planning to bring here?"

"Aside from Elise and Sean? No."

"Oh, and before you guys ask anymore questions, we're here."

The group stopped talking and turned to see what was in front of them.

What they saw left them absolutely speechless.

Before them was an utterly _colossal_ structure built into some kind of tree. it resembled a normal tree house, but was several times bigger, on a tree that put even a baobab to shame. Several birds were roosting on the branches of the great tree, while bird of paradise plants emerged from gardens near the windows.

"Welcome home."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Inside, the structures offers more surprises still. Within are rooms for well over a dozen people: a dining room, kitchen, at least four bathrooms, many bedrooms, a game room, a fitness room, and so many more.

"Why is this place so...so...so big?" asks an utterly astounded Tai.

"There's plans to eventually use the park for teaching, so the guys funding it paid for a bunch of nifty dorms, cabins and other stuff. This one is meant as a sort of luxury room for those people if they ever wanted to throw a party. I don't think they'll mind us using it."

"So, right now, I'd suggest you guys get settled in. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

The group quickly obliges.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

An hour or so later, the group is on the roof of their new home, watching the star filled sky. Unlike the skyline of the city, this one is filled to the brim with stars, present an unimaginably beautiful sight.

"So, this is where we'll be living for a while, isn't it?" asks Vera.

"Yeah, it is."

"I think we're gonna like it here."

"Indeed."

A shooting star passes by, travelling to parts unknown. The mystical sight surprises the group, but it soon fades into blissful silence. This might not be what they had in mind for their summer, but it is certainly going to be an adventure.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **AN: Well, hello!**

 **Now, I've wanted to do this story for awhile, just like with** ** _Inside their World_** **. This time, though, we'll be focusing on our human cast and what they do off camera. So feel free to sit back, relax, and listen to**

 ** _Prehistoric Park: The Untold Stories_** **.**

 **Read and review. This is Flameal15k, signing off.**


	2. Chapter 2: Strange yet Familiar

**Author's Pre-Note: Well, looks like I'm bak at this story again, aren't I? It's been awhile since I updated it and I think it's time that the crew gets some of their lives shown to us besides the rescues, don't you agree?**

 **Anyways, this story takes place just after the rescue of Bistahi in** ** _Bistahi Destroyer,_** **but prior to Tristan telling Nigel about his friends. So, without further adieu, enjoy!**

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Tristan was stunned at the sight of his lodgings: a giant treehouse? _Built into a living tree?_ ** _That was still growing?_** How could his father have kept this all a secret, from both him, his siblings and his mom? He knew that the dinosaur part would have been an necessary secret, but the rest of the park would probably have been easier to notice: he always tended to leave some parts of his projects out at his main house.

Now that he thought about it, though, Tristan did remember seeing pictures of these trees back at home: his father had been showing them to his mom a few years back. _'Maybe he told her about the project?'_ he wondered. After all, his mother was an excellent botanist, doctor, and chemical engineer, and his father would've probably found himself sleeping on the couch if his wife found out he'd been hiding this from her.

In fact, he probably would've also ended up with a few slap marks on his skin too: Mrs. Saurus (nee Chen) really did not like being betrayed. The mere thought of his mom being angry made Tristan shudder: she was someone you _really_ didn't want to piss off. There was a _reason_ Tristan got good grades from school.

But that was all far away at the moment: now, he wanted to focus on the abode provided for him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The inside of his lodging were just as amazing as their exteriors: they were filled with plenty of creature comforts: a large bathroom, giant bedroom, decently sized living and dining rooms, a game room, and a porch where you could sit out and watch the animals that inhabited the park (with binoculars provided for ease of viewing). Even without those, though, Tristan could make out the distant sight of the park's pair of _Alamosaurus,_ browsing among a clump of redwoods. How the park was able to get the trees to grow to a size they'd need centuries of growth to achieve within a _decade_ was beyond him. Not that he cared, though.

The viewing area also allowed Tristan a great view of some of the park's other area's of importance: the local pumping station for water, a geothermal power plant, and some farmland set aside to grow food for the animals, as well as some products important for working at the park. He could make out a large field of coffee plants on a small hill.

Before he could see any more sights, however, a loud roar filled the air. It was more rumbly that he had expected, and distinctly reptilian, but at the same time unique in its own right. To Tristan, it was clear a dinosaur had made the noise, and that said dinosaur must have been very large.

And there was only one type of large predatory dinosaur this close to his abode.

Feeling caution give way to curiosity, Tristan unpacked as fast as possible and headed toward a nearby hill, eager to meet the kings of Prehistoric Park.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Carefully, Tristan made his way to the edge of the fence. It was already dusk, and most of the keepers were busy cleaning up for the day as the night shift came to begin their duties. For Tristan, this meant few people would be watching the fences, giving him plenty of time to try and catch a glimpse of the tyrants.

Unfortunately, he couldn't see any of them near the edge of exhibit, nor could he see any hiding in the brush. Though he was loath to admit it, they'd probably already bedded down for the night, and were probably deeper inside the exhibit than he would be able to see. Disheartened, he began to leave.

HHHHIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Instantly, Tristan froze, then, slowly, began turning his head. Back at the exhibit, by the fence, he saw the shape of a tyrannosaur. It was a large creature, but it still felt small to Tristan; probably an adolescent, if he had to hazard a guess. It was very brightly colored, or at least the area from its head to its neck was: the rest of its body was a light brown, with green feathers covering its back. It's face, though, was just as bright as a turkey's, and that was discounting the orange and purple feathers. The blue and red head was wide, but still seemed too narrow to Tristan, reinforcing the belief that the dinosaur he was staring at was an adolescent, while also giving him reason to assume it was a male. Additionally, for some reason, he felt a certain familiarity to the creature.

At first, the bull _Tyrannosaurus_ only stared at Tristan. Then, slowly, the coelurosaur made its way toward the gate of its enclosure. Tiny hands soon found themselves around the wooden bar that held the exhibit shut, and it only took a few twists and pivots of them to release the seal on the door. A gentle nudge from the predator's snout was all it took to release the gate. Then, the tyrannosaur started walking toward Tristan.

Fear briefly rose in his chest, only to give way to awe at the sight of such a majestic, if dangerous, creature, one which now stood only a few meters before him. Cautiously, Tristan began digging into his pocket, and, after a moment, removed a piece of dry meat from it. The jerky had been made of turkey flesh, and would probably have been the most appealing to the carnivore. He had wanted to offer it a tastier meal, but the smell of the meat, as well as the crumpling of any bags he would have put it into to avoid a mess, would have given his plan away long before he could have set it in motion.

Slowly, he held up the meat to the tyrannosaur. Now that he had a better look at it, Tristan realized the reason for his familiarity with it: it was Terence, the one he had used to help pull the _Bistahieversor_ out of the mud. A part of his mind reminded him how odd it had been that such a predator had allowed him to tie rope around it without trying to attack him, but Tristan wasn't ready to devote any thought to that at the moment. A greater part of his mind, though, was bothered by the fact that the tyrannosaur felt familiar to him in some other way that he couldn't recognize. Hell, it _smelled_ familiar, which was an impressive feat given the average sense of smell most humans had, and which Tristan felt his sense of smell was well within.

Terence, for his part, seemed relatively tame in regards to the meal offered to him. He eyed the meat cautiously, but never made any moves to grab it. The reason for this eluded Tristan, perhaps it was still sizing him up. Well, if it was sizing him up, then he better feed the rex before it decided to eat him. So, without further delay, Tristan threw the jerky at the rex, which backed up and allowed it to hit the ground, before moving over to feed.

For some reason, Tristan, rather than deciding to run, instead held out his hand. Even he was surprised with his course of action, but couldn't muster the will to fight it off. Then, he started advancing toward Terence. The rex hissed at him, to which Tristan could only responded by saying "Easy, easy" to the tyrant reptile. Somehow, this managed to calm the predator, which slowly grew calmer as the boy approached him. Much to the surprise of both man and dinosaur, when Tristan was close enough, Terence brought his snout to the boy's palm, allowing him to grasp the reptile's maw.

For a moment, reptile and mammal could only stare at each other, wondering what the other was thinking. Tristan felt that the tyrannosaur was examining him, looking over his relatively drab park uniform, along with the rather expensive watch on his left arm and the beetle in his head-wait what?

At the instant, Tristan and Terence broke contact, the boy hitting the ground in surprise as the rhinoceros beetle on his head took flight. As he tried to right himself, his eyes turned back toward the tyrannosaur, revealing a peculiar detail: the back of the rex had two lines on it where the feathers seemed to thin out. On its belly were a matching pair of scars in the skin, albeit heavily faded: evidence of an injury in its youth.

Meanwhile, the rex noticed that Tristan had a similar set of scar around his stomach, with his navel sandwiched in-between them. They extended to his back as well, and lined up perfectly as far as the tyrant reptile could see.

Both beings stared at the scars, feeling that they were significant. But why? Why were they... so...important...oh.

Instantly, recognition covered Tristan's face, with a similar expression occupying Terence's. For a moment, both could only stare at each other in absolute silence. Then, the sound of an engine filled the air. Though distant, it signified that the night shift was arriving, forcing man and dinosaur to separate. Terence retreated back into his exhibit, which Tristan quickly closed, before heading back toward the park's mess hall, hoping (Correctly) that he would be able to arrive without incident.

When the staff saw the two later, none could sense anything different about them. But deep down, something had changed, and distant memories the two apex predators had thought long forgotten had begun to resurface...

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

 **AN: Well, looks like our hero has a secret to hide.**

 **Just a heads up, but Tristan's mom IS aware of the park. Her husband actually asked her if she was okay with sending Tristan to work there and she gave her approval. She's usually devoted to nature stuff. She's of Chinese origin, and DO NOT MAKE HER MAD.**

 **More trivia will be put up later. Read an Review. This is Flameal15k, signing off!**


	3. Chatper 3: Basic Training

**Welcome back!**

 **Note: this chapter takes place the day after the previous one.**

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

After his brief and rather surprising meeting with Terence, the rest of the night had been uneventful: he'd had dinner with the rest of the staff, then quickly showered and gone to bed. Part of him wanted to get ready for the next day, when the rest of his training would begin.

Additionally, part of him wanted to try and force away the memories that his visit had brought back to the surface. But that was for later.

Owing to the fact that he'd gone to sleep early, Tristan was up early the next day. Refreshed and relaxed from a good night's sleep, he was quick to clean himself, get dressed and have breakfast. The last action, though, briefly dampened his mood: he was normally used to seeing his siblings when he woke up, but now, he was alone. While he'd told Nigel about everyone he knew that could help at the park and probably _would_ do so, given the time of year, he wasn't sure if they would want to come, and even then, it would still take some time for them to finalize all of their preparations for the park. So even if they did come, Tristan would be a relative pariah in terms of age for a little while longer.

But getting sad was not something he intended to do: he was in a park that was home to _dinosaurs,_ and moping about being lonely was definitely not on his to-do list for such a place. So, when he finished his breakfast and cleaned his dishes, he quickly set off to meet up at the area designated for new recruits. There, they would learn the rest of the skills they needed to run the park. Yesterday may have been their first trial, but many more would pass before they could truly be considered members of the park's staff.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once everyone had arrived, they were quickly divided into groups based on what they specialized in: regular keepers were given an exhibit to head to, where they could watch the more experienced workers care for the park's residents and pick up on their skills. Trainee vets would return to Suzanne's clinic, where they would learn more about the physiology of the creature they were working with and how to help them if they became injured. Maintenance staff were already being given blueprints to study so that they could properly maintain all of the park's infrastructure. If this were a zoo, there would also have been staff getting ready to set up shops and what-not, but this was obviously unnecessary, given the park's secrecy. Overall, all of the new staff had a place to go.

All except one.

Owing to the fact that Tristan was part of the rescue team, he didn't really have any specific place to go to: the team normally trained on their own, and all of the members selected so far (Tristan included) already had plenty of experience dealing with all kinds of hostile environments, so they normally just kept to themselves, or worked with others. While this meant many things, the big one was that, when they weren't on missions, they could work with any group they wanted to, as long as they had the training.

With this in mind, Tristan decided to spend the day with the keepers and get to learn more about the park's animals, seeing how it would be rather boring to be at a park filled with dinosaurs and not be able to do more than look at them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The first exhibit the team went to was, interestingly enough, the _Velociraptor_ exhibit. Nigel had rescued a pair by accident during his mission to find the giant claw (which had been released to the public in the _Chased by Dinosaurs_ series), so it wasn't very surprising that the pair had been moved to the park when it had started accepting animals.

Surprisingly, it had been rather easy to tend to them: the raptors were nocturnal, meaning that most of the duties that needed to be done to maintain their exhibit could be done while they were asleep. As for feeding, well, that could easily be done at night.

Despite this, they had been one funny scene during the orientation: one of the new keepers, a man named Paul, had been cleaning away the bones of one of the raptors previous meals when the male had woken up from his roost in the hill above him. The raptor, unknowing of the man's presence, had promptly decided to relieve itself, _right on top of Paul._ Needless to say, much laughter had occurred at his expense.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The second exhibit they tended to was that of the park's _Incisivosaurus,_ one of the strangest of the oviraptorid line: unlike their descendents, these egg-thieves had teeth. Rather large, buck-toothed ones, too.

These dinosaurs were rather aggressive at times, but overall they were rather amicable once they got to know you. The staff were informed that it was possible to feed them by hand without losing your hand, and that this was in-fact encouraged, as it helped make the oviraptorids more tame around people.

Here, too, there were some funny incidents: people frequently hand fed them fruit, which meant that, when they got to eager for a meal, the staff often found themselves splattered with fruit juice. Tristan himself witnessed one women named Melissa get her face covered in orange juice due to the male biting down hard into the orange she had offered him. Everyone had laughed at this, even Melissa.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The rest of the exhibits would end up being a blur in Tristan's mind: he didn't really see much eventful happen in them, so they were only a focus for a few fleeting moments. He remembered assisting the vets and other keepers in vigorously removing a large number of ticks that had infested one of the sauropods, watching the _Giganotosaurus_ tear apart some meat he had been given, and seeing the mosasaur allowing remoras to hitch a ride on its belly. Overall, though, the rest of the day had been rather boring.

Then came the recruits final charge: the undisputed king of the dinosaurs, _Tyrannosaurus rex._

Needless to say, Tristan was very happy to get work with the rexes.

Most of the work they needed to was just feeding the giant tyrannosaurs, whose monstrous appetites needed multiple feedings _daily_ just to keep them full. This was usually in the form of beef or pork, with the occasional goat or lamb carcass added in for variety. All of these meats would be hooked up to a crane, which would then be used to hoist the flesh over the fence, ensuring that the tyrannosaurs did not harm anyone while they fed.

This mostly made for a rather boring teaching session, but Tristan really couldn't complain: rexes were dangerous.

However, as the group was rapping up, Tristan noticed something: once again, Terence had appeared. This was unsurprising: he had shown up during to feed, as had all of his family, so his appearance wasn't something that had gone unnoticed. What had gone unnoticed, though, was that he seemed to be moving around listlessly. He wasn't hungry, for he'd wolfed down a whole sheep, and he'd recently been checked for disease, so sickness was not a problem. He wasn't tired either. So why did he seem unhappy?

Just then, an owl that had taken up residence within the tyrannosaurs' exhibit hooted, instantly earning Terence's attention. He eagerly followed the hooting until it stopped, became confused, looked around for some time, then returned to his listlessness.

At this moment, a thought finally struck Tristan: maybe Terence was board? Most animals needed some kind of enrichment in their exhibit to fight off boredom, because many animals did all kinds of things for fun. If this was true of Terence, then the tyrannosaur needed something to play with.

As the rest of the crew was getting ready for dinner, Tristan started looking around to see if anything was available that he could use to relieve Terence of his boredom. Eventually, his eyes fell on a large purple ball, often used by zoos to keep big cats and elephants entertained. Smiling, Tristan quickly grabbed the ball, fit it into the crane, got it over the fence, then maneuvered the crane so that the ball would roll out into the exhibit.

The minute it came into his field of view, Terence began moving toward the ball. The first thing he tried to do was bite it, but it was too wide for him to get his mouth around it. With that failing, he promptly nudged the ball, sending it rolling away. Surprised at this, Terence quickly ran after the ball and stopped it with his foot. After a moment, he hit it again, then quickly began chasing after it once more. This quickly became a pattern, which brought a smile to Tristan's face: it appeared that he'd found a way to relieve the tyrannosaur of his boredom. Satisfied, Tristan left to go enjoy dinner with the rest of the staff.

Unseen by either boy or tyrannosaur, Bob had watching the situation from the park's control room. He was rather impressed with Tristan's initiative, and was mentally kicking himself for not thinking of giving the tyrannosaurs something to play with earlier. Sighing, he informed the staff in charge of supplies about the ball in the tyrannosaur exhibit, so that no one would waste time looking for it, before he too decided to join the rest of the staff for dinner.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **AN: Read and Review. This is Flameal15k, signing off!**


	4. The Night of the Storm

**AN: Welcome back to The Untold Stories! It's been a little while since the last chapter, so sorry if you wanted more, but I promise this one will be good!**

 **Also, this chapter takes place just after CHapter 104 of the main story.**

 **So, without further adieu, enjoy!**

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Outside, the storm continued to howl, but within the youngest recruits' treehouse dwellings, it was relatively quiet, with the only signs of the turmoil outside being the muffled sound of the raging winds, the sound of rain on the windows, and the occasional flashes of lightning followed by the rumble of thunder.

The storm made it virtually impossible for the team to work outside, so they had decided to seek shelter in the lodgings. They had worried that the storm would still harass them on the way back, but it turned out that all of the park's buildings were connected by tunnels, meaning that they could reach their rooms without getting wet... well, wetter than they already were. The minute they got back, they all decided to take showers, glad that their rooms had quite a few of those.

As they washed away the dirt, rain and exhaustion that had covered all of them, the team was left to ponder the things they'd seen today. The team had, to their surprise, encountered people just after returning to the present, dressed in the skins of dears and wolves, who had defended them from terror birds and hyenas until the predators could be moved to their own holding pens. The fact that Terence had joined these people was surprising, but his friendliness and curiosity mitigated this surprise to some degree. Of course, the surprise they had felt at seeing the people was nothing compared to Nigel admitting that he could explain about them.

While the team had assumed that Nigel was hiding something, they couldn't help but feel a small amount of betrayal at the confirmation that he was indeed keeping secrets from them. Admittedly, he was too nice to truly hate, but the knowledge that he hadn't been entirely honest with them had still hurt. For now, though, they were willing to drop this topic, in part because he was willing to come clean with them about these people. But that was a questioned that would remain unanswered until tomorrow, due to the harshness of the storm making simply listening to the man a challenge.

So, once the team finished showering, they quickly found themselves without anything to do. After a few moments of minor discussion, they eventually just decided to do some, well, quiet things: Some went to listening to music, others read books, and a few (among the Michelle, Tristan and Sean) decided to browse the web.

This went on for a few hours, nobody really bothering anyone else about what they were doing, mostly because everyone was _tired._ The Saurus siblings had been worn down by the heat of the desert, while everyone else had been beaten down by the storm. Everybody really wanted a rest, so no one was willing to break the peace for some time.

Eventually, however, the friends and siblings began to speak to each other once more.

"So, Tristan, what are you looking up?" asked Tai, pausing from reading the book in his hands.

"New finds in paleontology. We might've just finished one mission, but there will always be more, so maybe we should consider looking into potential future rescues."

"...Good point. Anything good?"

"Well, how about I show you..."

While Tai and Tristan examined some of the new finds in paleontology, the rest of the group continued their previous efforts unmolested. Marcus was busy shaping clay into a model of a dragon, taking advantage of the quiet to work on the intricate details of the figure, such as the horns and the teeth, meticulously working to ensure that each and every detail was made with utmost precision. Nearby, Elise was carefully putting together models for the Sisters of Battle of Warhammer 40000. She didn't really have much interest in the hobby, feeling it was too violent for her tastes, but despite this, she regarded the models as works of art. The Sororitas were an interesting choice of models for her, as they and the Craftworld Eldar were the only sets to which she actually possessed sourcebooks on: the 40K tabletop games were something of a pastime for her family, so though she didn't necessarily like the game, that didn't mean she didn't play it.

Alice, meanwhile, was listening to music: she preferred classical music, but their were several exceptions to this. She was a closet fan of Brad Paisley, and much more openly a fan of Bastille, but she felt a need at times to keep an air of eloquence around herself, not that it applied here, among her friends.

As for Lucas, he was looking over phots he had taken prior to coming to the park. For all of his intellectual skill, he preferred photography to being in labs or classrooms: it gave him more to see, hear and experience. He hoped that soon, he could take pictures of the wildlife in the park, which would make him the first man to ever photograph extinct life. Now, though, he wasn't willing to ask, simply because he wasn't sure when was the best time to do so.

Nearby, Michelle was busy examining pictures of Ruby Rose and other perky goth characters on the web. For all of her sunshiny appearances in the park, she found herself more at home in that subculture, enjoying the macabre elements in it. In fact, her time at the park was one of the few times she didn't look at all like the gothic subculture, impart because most of the choices of attire that people tended to associate with that culture were likely to make her roast on a tropical island, where the sun was always beating down on you.

Not too far away, Vera was busy watering a sundew. The girl enjoyed being in the company of wildlife and loved to work with plants and animals. She was careful to avoid adding fertilizer to the water, for fear of harming the plant. She briefly recoiled when a fly that had somehow snuck into the room was caught in one of the sundew's arms, rapidly finding itself crushed by the folding limb. While she did not really have anything against carnivorous plants, seeing one devour its prey was always a surprise.

As for the rest of the room's occupants, including Sean, they were playing a game of monopoly. Sean had initially been examining information about prehistoric oceans, as he knew that he would eventually have to take part in an underwater mission, but his younger siblings had persuaded him to enjoy a bird game with him. And for a short while, everything was calm.

Eventually, though, it came time for the team to have dinner, and they quickly broke up and got ready to head over to the mess hall, making sure to put away all the things they had taken out to work on/play with. As they made their last preparations, the few team members still putting their computers away decided to check the news. For the most part, things were the same, including some debates on the coming presidential election. Other important events had also popped up, as had headliners about recently committed crimes. All the regular stories one would expect on the news.

All except one.

As he browsed through the news, an interesting story popped up on Tristan's computer: "Strange Lights reported alongside appearance of giant bear". According to the report, Alabama locals had reported seeing strange lights two nights ago, along with what had appeared to be an abnormally large bear. Officials claimed that the lights could have been caused by a storm that had occurred at the same time, and that the bear was probably just a really old bear. Locals insisted, however, that the bear was larger than anything they had ever seen, and more importantly, had a relatively short face compared to normal ones.

Tristan pondered over these facts for a moment, before saving the link and heading for dinner. Once the team returned to their lodgings, he would go over this in more detail.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **AN: Read, Review and Vote on the Poll. This is Flameal15k, signing off!**


	5. Chapter 5: Fantasy or Reality?

With a click of the mouse, the report was submitted.

Tristan sighed. His English project was finished, leaving him free to enjoy the rest of the night in peace.

The park having very good Wi-Fi was a godsend. Tiberius seemed to be well aware that his children would not want to work at the park for the summer, only to be forced back home by school, so he had taken the liberty of enrolling them in online classes, a kindness he had also extended to Tristan's friends. As long as they passed those classes, they could stay at the park as long as they wanted. Though, he was unsure that everyone else's parents had been kay with that idea, despite the fact that Tiberius had assured his son they were onboard with it. Food for thought, it was.

With the report submitted, and a little bit of time to kill before going to bed, Tristan decided to indulge in one of his few guilty pleasures. He quickly typed in a web address and hit the enter key. A moment later, text appeared on the screen, accompanying a web page.

 _Cryptid Watchers_

Tristan smiled as he read the text. Time to see what had happened since he last signed on.

For the most part, nothing new. Apparently there were some reports saying that Mokele-mbembe had been spotted again in the Congo, though the video attached to the 'sighting' was clearly a fake. Stateside, someone was trying to organize another hunt for bigfoot, a mission Tristan felt would be unsuccessful.

For the most part, Tristan wasn't really a believer in Cryptids - they were beasts that were likely to be fictitious, after all, and if they were, scientists would probably have found them by now, using satellites or other modern instruments. Climate change, and mankind's own recklessness, meant that now, there was nowhere left for large animals to hide.

Well, almost nowhere.

Still, while Tristan did not believe most cryptids to be real, most did not mean all. Some creatures did seem reasonable enough for animals that could evade detection by mankind to this day, and some might still hide in the few mountains and forests left that remained untouched by mankind. For those few, Tristan was willing to give the benefit of the doubt.

Suddenly, a new 'news-flash', if one could call it that, appeared on the website's news-feed. It appeared that a new story had showed up. A cursory examination revealed that it was about someone named Ian Tanner. Tristan remembered he had been in the news a year ago, supposedly positing a claim that a carbonized- _Tyrannosaurus_ skull had been the result of the animal being killed by a prehistoric dragon, which, supposedly, was a type of highly advanced scansoriopterid dinosaur. Apparently, he had just dismissed a video showing what was supposedly a real-life dragon, claiming it to be a fake.

Tristan had to agree with him there - the video was clearly a fake. At the same time, though, he was willing to give Tanner's hypothesis on living dragons to be true - it wouldn't be too unbelievable anymore, given the fact that scansoriopterids _really did_ look like dragons. Of course, how they could breath fire, or get as big as Tanner was proposing, was a question that needed to be addressed. Oddly enough, the scientific community, who had initially dismissed his idea as ridiculous, seemed to now treat it with indifference.

Well, there _was_ one way to see if he was right...

Tristan quickly dismissed the thought - even if dragons were real, the odds of the group encountering one were slim, to say the least.

Still, it was a possibility Tristan was willing to believe. For now, anyway.

Turning his attention back to time travel and cryptids, Tristan began to think over a theory he'd had since his first encounter with time travel:

Many cryptids had descriptions similar to those of prehistoric beasts. Mokele-mbembe matched up with sauropods, Bigfoot and Yeti with the _Gigantopithecus,_ and the Loch-Ness Monster with plesiosaurs. Some had claimed that these were relic populations of extinct species, but the differences in habitat and time between where those cryptids lived and where the species they were said to resemble lived made this unlikely. The time portal, though, offered a more plausible solution.

It wasn't completely impossible for a time portal to occur naturally, especially since, according to some information Nigel had given to him, at the request of his father, it involved magnetism. This meant that it was entirely possible for there to be naturally occurring time portals. Expanding on that idea, it was entirely possible that creatures could have wandered through these portals and become trapped in the relative past or future. These oddities could, potentially, explain the existence of cryptids. Well, some of them, anyway.

Of course, to validate that hypothesis, he would need to find one of these time portals and gather evidence proving his claims. That would require both time, planning, assistance, and a lot of luck.

Maybe he should consider seeing if his college had a Conspiracy Club?

No, that would attract all the wrong kinds of attention, and make him look like a crazy teen. It would probably be better if he just asked his friends and siblings, who had ample reason to believe him, to help with his mission. Additionally, should they actually validate his hypothesis, he would be working with people who had experience dealing with prehistoric creatures, meaning that they would know how to react when confronted with one and minimize the risk involved for both parties.

Some people would call him crazy anyway, but they hadn't travelled back in time to rescue dinosaurs, with their first mission being one to rescue a tyrannosaur and a ceratopsian. or been hit by a Frisbee thrown backwards through time by their own father.

And, besides...

Neither of those events had been his _first_ experience with time travel...

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 **AN: Going to update this and Inside Their World a few more times before I update the main story again, so enjoy!**

 **Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!**


End file.
